συνέδριον

συνέδριον — synédrion

συνέδριον, συνεδρίου, τό (σύν and ἕδρα; hence, properly, 'a sitting together'), in Greek authors from Herodotus down, any assembly (especially of magistrates, judges, ambassadors), whether convened to deliberate or to pass judgment; Vulg.concilium; in the Scriptures

1. any session or assembly of persons deliberating or adjudicating (Pro 22:10; Psa 25:4; Jer 15:17; 2Ma 14:5; 4Ma 17:17): συνήγαγον συνέδριον (A. V. "gathered a council]"], Joh 11:47.

2. specifically,

a. the Sanhedrin, the great council at Jerusalem (Talmud, סַנְהֵדְרִין), consisting of seventy-one members, viz. scribes (see γραμματεύς, 2), elders, prominent members of the high priestly families (hence, called ἀρχιερεῖς; see ἀρχειρευς, 2), and the high priest, the president of the body. The fullest periphrasis for Sanhedrin is found in Mat 26:3 R G; Mar 14:43; Mar 14:53 (viz. οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς καί οἱ γραμματεῖς καί οἱ πρεσβύτεροι). The more important causes were brought before this tribunal, inasmuch as the Roman rulers of Judaea had left to it the power of trying such cases, and also of pronouncing sentence of death, with the limitation that a capital sentence pronounced by the Sanhedrin was not valid unless it were confirmed by the Roman procurator (cf. Joh 18:31; Josephus, Antiquities 20, 9, 1). The Jews trace the origin of the Sanhedrin to Num 11:16 f. The Sanhedrin (A. V. council) is mentioned in Mat 5:22; Mat 26:59; Mar 14:55; Mar 15:1; Luk 22:66;. Act 4:15; Act 5:21; Act 5:27; Act 5:34; Act 5:41; Act 6:12; Act 6:15; Act 22:30; Act 23:1; Act 23:6; Act 23:15; Act 23:20; Act 23:28; Act 24:20; used ((as in classical Greek)) of the place of meeting in Act 4:15.

b. the smaller tribunal or council (so A. V.) which every Jewish town had for the decision of the less important cases (see κρίσις, 4): Mat 10:17; Mar 13:9. Cf. Winers RWB under the word Synedrium; Leyrer in Herzog edition 1 under the word Synedrium (Strack in edition 2); Schürer, Neutest. Zeitgesch. 2te Aufl. § 23, II., III. (and in Riehm, p. 1595ff); Holtzmann in Schenkel see, p. 446ff; (BB. DD., under the word (especially Ginsburg in Alex.'s Kitto); Hamburger, Real-Encycl. ii, pp. 1147 -1155; Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, ii. 553ff; Farrar, Life of Christ, Excurs. xiii.).